Wireless Services by Cable Provider

Wi-Fi enables the delivery of content to multiple TVs, tablets, PCs, and smartphones without the limits of cabling. Cable providers have been offering wireless Internet services for several years through Wi-Fi routers connected to DOCSIS-based cable modems. Comcast and other video content providers are now increasingly pursuing ways to offer wireless transmission of video content on home networks as well as on large-scale roaming networks. Theoretically, Wi-Fi may also enable a provider to offer some of its services from its cable plant to a home or business without installing a cable into the premises.

3.6.3.1 Residential Wireless Services—Wi-Fi and New Technologies

Wi-Fi or Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) technology is based on the IEEE 802.11 standard.

WLANs have been able to provide greater bandwidth over the course of their evolution and may potentially create a completely wire-free future for connectivity within the home.

One of the latest versions of the 802.11 standard, 802.11ac, positions WLANs to target the exponential wireless market growth expected over the next few years by offering speeds of up to 1.3 Gbps⁴²—doubling that of the current 802.11n standard. The new standard (operating only in the 5 GHz band as opposed to both the 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz bands) has various design enhancements, including:

• Increase in channel sizes up to 160 MHz from a maximum of 40 MHz in 802.11n

• Use of higher modulation and coding schemes such as 256 QAM (an improvement over 64 QAM)

41 “Verizon’s McAdam Sees Broadcast Video over LTE in 2014,”Multichannel News, Jan 8,2013

http://www.multichannel.com/telco-tv/ces-verizons-mcadam-sees-broadcast-video-over-lte-2014/141109

42 “802.11ac:The fifth Generation of Wi-Fi Technical White Paper,” Technical White Paper, Cisco Systems, August 2012

• Greater number of multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) antenna streams (i.e., eight antenna streams instead of four) separated spatially in a manner that improves data rates and performance

• Use of multi-user MIMO, which supports simultaneous transmission to multiple clients, thus more effectively utilizing channel bandwidth

The Wi-Fi Alliance, a trade association that ensures the interoperability of equipment from different vendors, had recently approved 802.11ac technology on various new devices. The relatively faster adoption of this new technology has become a necessary step in order to support the pervasive bandwidth being demanded by mobile applications and the increasing number of devices per user.

Backward-compatibility to older standards and 2.4 GHz equipment will be a feature that will be present on most devices for the foreseeable future.

Another standard—802.11ad—which will offer functionalities closer to peer-to-peer (P2P) applications has been in development by the IEEE committee to enable the use of the 60 GHz band of radio spectrum. It has the capability to transfer up to 7 Gbps.⁴³ This technology is more suited for high capacity, line-of-sight links (such as in-room wireless connection) and has the potential to be a highly effective way to communicate between content delivery mediums and user screens—similar to how an HDMI cable or docking station would work, but at greater distances.

3.6.3.2 Roaming Wi-Fi Networks

Cable providers have been able to broaden their wireless service footprints by creating a nationwide roaming Wi-Fi network. Comcast has expanded its Wi-Fi hotspot network, “Xfinity WiFi,” to several densely populated areas within its service region to provide wireless Internet access to both subscribers (at no additional charge) and non-subscribers (at a pay-per-time-block rate), although as of the date of this report it is not available in Seattle. Comcast and four other cable companies—Time Warner Cable, Cox Communications, Cablevision, and Bright House Networks—have collaborated to create a Wi-Fi roaming network across the United States, named

“CableWiFi.” This network allows cable subscribers to access the Internet within the coverage of

43 “Amendments in IEEE 802.11ad enable Multi-gigabit throughput and groundbreaking capacity,” IEEE Standards Association, 8 January, 2013, http://standards.ieee.org/news/2013/802.11ad.html

150,000 hotspots (as of June 2013) belonging to any of the cable providers in more than a dozen major cities.⁴⁴

In June 2013, Comcast launched a “homespot” network⁴⁵ that sets up an additional sub-network on the Wi-Fi gateways deployed in individual customer premises that is accessible to all Comcast subscribers. This model has already been demonstrated in Europe and has the potential to provide millions of hotspots across Comcast’s service footprint, enabling roaming access to video and data content.

The expansion of roaming Wi-Fi networks either collaboratively (e.g., CableWiFi) or by individual cable providers (e.g., Comcast’s homespot) does not appear to create bandwidth bottlenecks on cable operator networks at the moment. Rather, the networks create benefit to cellular wireless carriers, which have a new avenue to relieve their network congestion by offloading their data services to cable operator’s public Wi-Fi networks. At the same time, wireless subscribers can also direct their traffic to Wi-Fi networks whenever possible to avoid the data caps set by cellular providers. In both cases, MSOs benefit by 1) obtaining a greater penetration in the wireless broadband market and 2) the creation of a smooth transition in the TV viewing experience outside of their coverage area.

44 “CableWiFi Alliance triples to 150,000 hotspots,” USA Today, June 10, 2013, http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/06/10/cablewifi-expands/2408829/

45 “Comcast unveils plans for millions of Xfinity WiFi Hotspots,” press release, Comcast Corp., June 10, 2013, http://corporate.comcast.com/news-information/news-feed/comcast-unveils-plans-for-millions-of-xfinity-wifi-hotspots-through-its-home-based-neighborhood-hotspot-initiative-2